Loyd Grossman – pasta sauce impresario, former hospital food tsar, champion of museums, and still probably best known as the endlessly imitated Bostonian accent of the Through the Keyhole television series – will be unveiled next week as the new chairman of Heritage Link.

This umbrella organisation represents millions of people and more than 75 non-governmental organisations across the heritage sector.

One of his first initiatives will be to bang political heads together next month, having persuaded culture secretary Ben Bradshaw, the Conservatives' Ed Vaizey and the Lib Dems' Don Foster to come together to debate the issue.

"The continuing economic crisis and impending change of govermnment means we must put forward the most important policies," he told Building Design magazine, which today reveals his new incarnation. "It's now a very important time for the heritage sector to really begin speaking in a more coordinated, articulate and forceful way."

Having cornered his politicians, Grossman will present them with a "heritage manifesto" drawn up after extensive consultation with the member organisations. Many of these groups fear that politicians of all parties still haven't fully understood that heritage spending is repaid many times in jobs, tourism revenue and regeneration.

Grossman will lead a campaign calling for the restoration of heritage lottery funding - eroded by the obligation to part-fund the 2012 Olympics - and an end to the VAT anomaly that increases the cost of conservation work by allowing new build to be VAT free but making repairs and restoration liable to the tax.

He is likely to encounter fierce resistance from MPs to any measure that would cost more than goodwill.

Vaizey has shot down the manifesto without even seeing it, telling Building Design: "They are all ideas I have sympathy with - but the problem is they all cost money."

Organisations which have joined Heritage Link range from mass membership organisations such as the National Trust to small local groups. Other members include conservation workers and archaeologists, the guardians of palaces and stately homes, battlefield historians and waterway enthusiasts, vintage transport lovers, and campaign groups for old cinemas and churches.

Their members were bitterly disappointed not to see the promised heritage bill included in the Queen's speech, meaning it has no chance of becoming law in this parliament. Like arts organisations, they are fearful of the impact of spending cuts, whoever wins the next election.